"If Craig sees an act he
believes has potential,
then one phone call
can get that person
working all over the
world."
INTRODUCTION
by Hal Meyers, aka Dameon
In the mid-1980s I started cruising around the globe on the Cu-
nard, Sitmar, RCCL, Royal and Holland America ships. On my sec-
ond Caribbean outing I was picking up the Cunard Countess
which left from San Juan. As I approached my cabin I met the
exiting magician. He was incredibly friendly and extremely help-
ful in the brief moments our paths crossed. This was Craig Dia-
mond. Throughout the years I cruised we would pass by with a
wave, “how’d it go?” … a laugh … which is all it took, and then
onto our next ship.
As Craig would say, we were in “the end of the Golden Age of
Cruising”. Folks dressed up in formal wear almost every night on
the ships. Craig and I usually opened for some of the top caba-
ret/Catskill/recording/Broadway acts in the country, we were the
“kids”, we knew our place, had a tremendous amount of respect
for these incredible entertainers who took us under their wings,
gave us advice and made us feel welcome.
After three years I left the ships and completely lost track of Craig.
Jump ahead almost 40 years to 2018. I decided to relocate to Flor-
ida, had no idea where I was heading; however, I’d recently face-
booked Craig who lived “somewhere” in Florida and he said, “Hey,
on your travels why don’t you stop by, spend the night.”
So I found myself close by and stopped. We reminisced, laughed
and cried for almost 10 hours straight talking about all the folks
we’d worked with, the acts, cruise directors, who was still around,
who was still working, horror stories, behind the scenes, etc.
PHOTO BY JOE DEMPSEY
MAY | 2020
9